Judge of the Supreme Court Joaquim Barbosa during the "mensalao" trial at the Supreme Court building in Brasilia on October 10, 2012. Barbosa, 58, the tough justice overseeing Brazil's high-profile corruption trial, was officially nominated president of Brazil's Supreme Court, the first black to assume the post.

A political corruption trial seen as a turning point toward cleaner governance in Brazil is nearing its end, with the country's Supreme Court starting to hand down tough sentences this week against powerful defendants.

Twenty-five people have been convicted on charges related to the funneling of public money into political campaigns and a cash-for-votes scheme in the legislature. The court adjourned Thursday because of a judge's health problem and will likely resume discussions of sentencing of the convicted in the second week of November.

The trial has riveted Brazil for months, with results that have tarnished the reputation of the governing Workers' Party. The alleged corruption dates to the government of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, though he has not been charged and denies the schemes happened.

The accused included Jose Dirceu de Oliveira e Silva, who was da Silva's chief of staff, and a host of other politicians, consultants and bankers. Jose Dirceu, as he is known as, pleaded not guilty, but was convicted of racketeering and leading the vote buying in Congress during da Silva's first term in office, among other charges.

The first sentence, which came Wednesday, was for Marcos Valerio de Souza, a consultant considered the key operator in the cash distribution scheme. So far, he's been condemned to more than 40 years in prison and fined more than $1.3 million. Both will be recalibrated once a last judge has his say, and he'll be eligible to serve in a more lenient, semi-open prison system after completing one-sixth of the sentence.

To many in this country where public service has long been marred by corruption and impunity, the sentence was a powerful message signaling improving political health.